we are live this evening from new york city, hofstra university in washington, d.c. president obama and governor romney clashed in the second of three debates before election kay on november 6th, intense pressure on both candidates but especially the president. his poor showing in the first debate shifted the momentum of the race. the a gallup poll earlier today put governor romney ahead 50 to 46 nationally, the campaigns have been focusing closely on a select few battleground states, including florida, ohio and virginia, tonight the candidates engage in a stir irs of heated exchanges on stage, joining me in new york, jon meacham, the author of the forthcoming book thomas jefferson, and mark halperin of time magazine and john heilemann of time magazine. >> albert hunt, executive editor of bloomberg news and david leonhardt the bureau chief of "the new york times", joining us shortly from washington, katty kay of bbc world news of america, and slate magazine, we have a really fascinating group of people here to talk about what was a remarkable debate. i begin first wi